“See a need, fill a need.”

I present the initial release of my 1st complete and functional WordPress plugin.

Improved Tag Cloud 0.1

ITC is designed specifically to combat a problem I have with the normal tagging cloud and related plugins currently available. Namely, the number of terms generated by someone who’s pretty bonkers about accurate tagging/searching. This blog with it’s sub-100 posts already has well over 100 tags and that’s only because I was distilling them down to keep the cloud small!

All ITC does is ask you what the minimum amount of posts you require a tag to have before it’s displayed in your cloud. For my blog a setting of ONE actually works perfectly! Your mileage may vary. I didn’t really test it (or code against it) but an excessively high number would likely produce … uh … nothing? Don’t do that!

I have also added a “My Stuff” page to the index as well where I’ll chronicle my ongoing coding exploits. THE HORROR!

This is my first foray into WordPress hacking, so be gentle.

update: The E! True Hollywood Story on this project was that I wanted to generate some code I could show a potential employer that was applicable to their business. Long story short, they kicked me to the curb after (what I thought) was two excellent interviews with some of the nicest people you’d care to meet. I guess you never can tell with people…

So yeah, I haven’t had a job since October of last year. It’s an interesting experience, actually. A wild confluence of events turned a 3-month “break” into what may amount into nearly a full year off. I guess at that point you can call it a sabbatical or something? At any rate, I’m cranking out emails and such in full force now looking for yet another IT job I’ll hate in six months. My optimism is infectious, no?

I still hold out hope that some MMO studio will return my emails so I can con them into a producer or an associate designer gig. That’s no small task for people who have actual industry experience, let alone someone who’s spent the last decade in IT/IT management.

One morning it hit me - I’ve been spitballing a game concept on and off for the last year, why not actually WRITE IT DOWN. Artists have a portfolio and “shipped titles” are generally considered to be the analog for a producer or designers so why can’t I create one?

Given how my thought process works a simple document would be nigh useless. After a week it’d be so convoluted that you’d need a cryptex to decipher every 3rd paragraph. My solution was to use a wiki and it seems to be working pretty damned well so far. Navigation and categorization let me easily move around to edit/add details to stub entries and the built-in metrics show me where I last left off or places that are unfinished.

I’ve been at it for about two weeks now and I have around 50 entries written for the skills system. Writing it all down has also helped me see some weaknesses that the random afternoon navel gazing never revealed.

As of Friday last week I am unemployed. While it was not something I initiated, it’s for the best. I haven’t been happy for a looooooong time. My stock answer when people ask me about my job has been “I hate my job, but I love the work.”

Anywho, I got up at the crack of 11:30 this morning and was summoned to a local eatery for lunch with a few of my former former co-workers. One was let go on Thursday and the others left a year+ back. We had a nice meal and a fun bitch session about our former employer. Good times.

Promises promises, but I do intend to keep some content up here. It’s not like I have anything better to do…